that's it for us. thank you for watching this edition of "360."

erin burnett" outfront." a death of an american at the consulate bill clinton also hitting the stump tonight for president obama, going after a very specific type of voter. and a new warning that puts the united states between a rock and a hard place. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone, i'm erin burnet. "outfront tonight," we're told that an official has been killed in benghazi. this after a day of violence at the diplomatic post. armed men set the american consulate on fire after a protest against an american-produced movie they say insultses the prophet muhammad.

this hours after egyptian protesters scaled the walls at the embassy in cairo ander to do tore down the american flag. cnn's jomana occur afterno ancj the phone. and i want to start with jomana. what is the latest you heard from on the ground in benghazi? >> reporter: well, we're hearing very little from the u.s. embassy, but according to eyewitnesss, there is reports of libyan casualties as a result of these clashes. as a militant group tried to store the u.s. embassy. they succeeded and did storm the u.s. embassy. according to eyewitnesss, libyan security forces were engaged in heavy clashes with this armed

group. a radical militant group based in eastern libya and fired rocket-propelled grenades at the u.s. consulate building. libyan army troops deployed. the road to the consulate blocked by military vehicles. now we have conflicting reports, and what the situation is right there. libyan government owe telling cnn that the building was being secured by libyan forces, but according to this eyewitness, members of the armed group had taken over the consulate building and were celebrating looting the consulate. there are calls on some social media sites for more protests in ben ghazi and here in tripoli. what is the latest in cairo? what specifically was it about this movie that sparked this sudden and very violent attacks on the u.s. diplomatic posts?

>> reporter: well, the situation is that there are hundreds on the ground, calls for more protests tomorrow. what's specifically offensive about this film are many things actually, erin, namely, the movie calls the prophet muhammad gay, womanizer, molester of children, basically all things that muslims would find offensive are in this video. and this is what the protesters are saying is fueling their anger to go to the embassy, and to -- what as we saw, a handful of them, go into the embassy come pound, tear down the american flag. and during this whole operation, the question is, where were the comput security forces? the embassy gave a warning to citizens earlier in the day, we

have known security forces have known this protest was going to happen for a while. why weren't they there? it shows the poor state of egyptian security forces they are unable to protect an embassy. this wasn't a large crowd according to egyptian standard, roughly 1,000 people. much smaller than we've seen in the past. that's a question officials have to answer now. >> i know that you -- had you a chance -- you've been there many times. a chance to see what was happening, ian. how violent was it? how frightening was it? what things were they doing? >> reporter: well, the protesters when i was there were climbing around the embassy walls, chanting down with america, they were calling for jihad, many violent chants against the u.s. embassy.

many people saying they will continue this pressure against the u.s. embassy because of these -- this video, so it is a tense situation, and there were calls for protests tomorrow. so we may see another tense situation, erin. >> jomana when it gets to libya, how did they find out what happened in cairo? how much coordination was there as people say, will these attacks continue or will this escalate, not just in libya and in cairo, but perhaps in other places? >> reporter: well, social media called for protests, and there were some postings on pages like facebook earlier today, and that could have been the calls for this protest that took place outside the consulate. the difficult thing with libya, many of these people are armed, and it will be difficult to control it, like we saw this

evening, one government official i spoke with said that the government is unable to protect itself sometimes from armed groups and attacks like these, so how will it protect embassies and foreign missions here in cases like this? there have been an escalation we have seen. the armed radical groups targeting the eastern city of benghazi. the u.s. consulate building was attacked this evening was also attacked by a bomb that was left outside back in june. no casualties in that attack, but there are vulnerabilities, there are concerns here, especially with no strong believe and military, despite annual attackers at the u.s. embassy or other missions here. >> ian what about the egyptian government's response? so many people trying to figure out what sort of government this will be, obviously islamist government, muslim brotherhood government. have they come out, apologized,

explain why there were no security forces, escalated why it did as much as it did today? >> there is a big black eye for the egyptian government, seeing an american flag being destroyed isn't going to go over well, and the egyptian government quick to response. foreign ministry came out and condemned protesters for going into the embassy and said they were going to talk with the different ministries involved in securing the embassy to find out why the security forces weren't able to stop these protesters, and egyptian forces are always by the embassy. walk by on a normal day, armored personnel carriers, riot troops ready. the question, why weren't they able to deploy quickly if they are already stationed there? and the foreign ministry said they will work to find out the answers why they were slow in responding. >> a lot of answers needed and

real questions as to whether this escalates as ian and jomana reported. thank you to both of you for reporting from libya and cairo. the incidents, the latest example of anti-american sentiment going forward. phil mudd of counterterrorist center out front tonight. phil, when we talk about this today, i'll go ahead and mention what it feels like the elephant in the room. obviously, today is september 11th, a very somber day in this country. these incidents happened in both cairo and libya today. both have been linked to the movie that allegedly mocks the prophet muhammad and ian said it said some horrible things. is it coincidence or intentional these happened on september 11th? >> my guess is coincidence. this looks like those cartoons in denmark where you had unrest in afghanistan and pakistan. i think the coincidence of the date is just that, coincidence. >> let me bring in ed hussein, as well.

senior fellow of middle eastern studies and the council on foreign relations. ed, thanks for taking the time to be with us, as well. what does this mean for the united states? i mean, obviously, tension is high. but what is the significance of this happening in two places on the same day against the u.s.? >> well, i think i'm in agreement with phil. this is not a coincidence. this is by design. but i think several things stand out. one, that the narrative that the arab spring was all led by liberal secularists and how the middle east is now warm and friendly towards america and american ideals, that narrative no longer holds true, if it ever did. >> right. >> there are people on the fringes who are able to impact the center of political debate with this kind of outrageous activity. and now what they will turn around and say to you, the prophet muhammad is a red light, muhammad is a red light, they fail to cross that. they can't distinguish between free citizens and a free country

doing whatever they wish to please. and the government of the country, in this case, the u.s., is irresponsible and innocent of anything that happens. but this is part of the problem in the middle east, they can't distinguish between independent citizens and the role of the governments. that's part of the legacy of living under a dictatorship for so many years. >> phil, i'm wondering, was this just disorganization, or looking the other way? because the american embassy was involved. i mean, why were there not more egyptian security forces there to prevent them scaling the walls and burning the american flag? >> my guess is they have a plan to respond to this, but they're just not as efficient as we might expect in the west. as somebody mentioned earlier, you've had attacks on different embassies across cairo in the past months. the security services have gone through great disarray since the change in government so they might not have been prepared for this. i'm guessing it also happened very quickly. >> it seems certainly from what ian was reporting that was the case. ed, what about what a lot of americans may ask as a result of this?

is which is until america understands who is in charge and what they stand for, given the question marks in cairo, also in libya, how does the u.s. go ahead, giving $1.5 billion in military in aid every year to egypt? most of that is military aid. >> i think one of the important reasons here that the relations between the egyptian government and the current government under muhammed morrissey and the white house and the state department and the congress is in good shape is partly to do with that aid. i don't think immediately the question of aid should be put on the table. it's a tiny proportion of the u.s. annual budget that goes out to egypt. for that we get returns. and those returns include, you know, a peace treaty with israel, better influence over the region, president thus far that's been friendly towards the u.s., potential trade deals. >> you really think we get all that from it? when they were attacking the israeli embassy recently and now crowds attacking the american? we get goodwill from it? >> those are headlines, but the reality on the ground, the peace

deal with israel still stands and the government has gone after terrorists. that's unprecedented for an islamist president to go after al qaeda terrorists in egypt. that's worth something. i don't think we should throw the baby out with a bath water because a few extremists have burnt a flag. that's exactly what they want and we should not succumb to that pressure from the fringes. >> i understand ed, distinguishing between the two, on the ground and in cairo as we have all experienced. there are plenty of wonderful moments, as well. but where is this heading towards? >> i think this is heading in a direction that's pretty simple to follow. if you look at polling data. look, like through the rest of the middle east, you've got fewer than 20% of egyptians who have a positive view of the united states. and just about 10% of them think that american cultural representation in a place like cairo is a good thing. so in the midst of that backdrop, you throw a match on this tinder box and the form of this video, and unsurprisingly, people who have seen the abu ghraib videos, reports that we

burn qurans, decide we don't like america, we're going to burn the embassy. so we have a lot of space to make up in terms of people who don't think america represents what we think it represents. >> right. until those people have jobs and livelihoods of their own, it's hard to break that cycle. thanks so much to both of you. we appreciate it. ahead, bill clinton on the campaign trail tonight for president obama, speaking moments ago. oh, but a double-edged sword. and mark zuckerberg made his first comment since the disastrous launch of the facebook ipo. and he has a plan. we'll tell you about it. he has a plan, a plan, a plan. that's your only hint. and is prime minister netanyahu being snubbed?

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and now our second story "outfront." clinton, the closer. fresh off his star turn at the democratic convention, the former president hit the campaign trail today for president obama and the crucial swing state of florida. >> if you're looking for the future, i think the president's budget plan is better. meets the arithmetic test. i think the health care plan is better. i know the higher education plan is better. i know the energy plan is better. and i know the economic plan is better. and i know it will not amount to a hill of beans if you don't register and vote and get your friends to. so do it. >> all right. bill clinton's popularity is no secret. talk about the ultimate comeback kid, okay? his approval rating is 69%. a new cnn poll puts president obama's approval at 51%. historically now, september numbers are very telling. so let's just look at this. ooh, look at all these little jolly heads.

compared to other presidents -- sorry. compared to other presidents, obama is in pretty good shape. george h.w. bush and jimmy carter who both lost had approval ratings in the high 30s at this time of the year so he's way, way above that. but his 51% is lower than the presidents who went on to win, including clinton with his high watermark of 60% approval in 1986. good to see all of you. ryan, let's start with you. should republicans be afraid, very, very afraid? of the silver-haired fox? >> i think the key thing is, when you're looking at the states where he's campaigning, it's very shrewd. he's campaigning in florida and also campaigning in ohio. when you're looking at a lot of the swing states, they unemployment rates that are below the national average. and actually, even though the job creation has been sluggish, it has been moving on an upward trend, whereas in the 18 months before the 2010 midterm

elections, they were really stuck. so i think that even though the economy is not doing great, it's doing well enough that president obama is still in the fight, and, yeah, bill clinton is more popular than ever, partly because a lot of folks who hated him most are now dead. and a lot of people who were kids when he was a popular president are now voting. >> look what's going on. you look at congress and paul ryan, newt gingrich, they praise president bill clinton. >> o he's the guy who reached across the aisle and balanced the budget. >> but the reality is this here. bill clinton is so smooth, he is able to seduce folks. and remember, you heard when he was president, people said he could walk into a room, and you can hate the guy, and he'll flip you in a minute, because he is that kind of guy. >> the seducer? >> yes. yes. she was in prison and she wouldn't talk for the guy. she said that's the kind of guy he was. are you all forgetting the clinton years? >> no, no, i remember.

i remember the good and the bad. >> right. >> that's what i love about this. the fact that bill clinton is now the republicans' favorite democrat is funny. >> didn't we try to impeach this guy? >> yeah. >> i'm making sure we're talking about the same guy. >> and here's the deal. republicans wish -- there is something special when you have a former president out on the stump. look president george h.w. bush is ill, president george bush is toxic. >> i don't see them bringing their guy out. and they can gets mad all they want, but president bush can't go out there and do it. >> you're in a swing state, you see an ad for the obama campaign that begins with bill clinton. is there a precedent for that? people aren't using w. this time aren't. everyone invokes reagan but it's not people used carter. >> people took a while to rehabilitate. >> no. >> you never know. >> it took a while. he was not popular when he left office. a lot of people are forgetting the down sides of the clinton years.

i personally think he was overrated but he was not overrated as a politician. and the key thing is that president obama needs to slightly close that gap that he has with white voters. and bill clinton is quite popular with a large number of those working-class white voters where you need to close that gap, just a little bit. you're still going to have a big deficit but if you close it just you're still going to have a big deficit but if you close it just a little bit, suddenly mitt romney is in real trouble. >> right. there's a reason they call him bubba. bubba connects with bubba. >> 3 for 3 on inappropriate marks. >> 69% approval. that's not just being beloved by the democratic base. that's being beloved by independents, by swing centrists and even some republicans. you've got to win ohio, you've got to win florida. and he's the last democrat to get re-elected. he's a powerhouse on the stump. >> let's remind everybody in 2008, we had this exact same conversation. president then senator obama not doing well with white, blue collar voters during the primary. senator hillary clinton doing well. remember, president bill clinton

spoke on wednesday in 2008. he spoke on wednesday in 2012. we're having the exact same conversation. >> ryan, you think president clinton could swing the whole election, right? >> that's a little strong, but i think he's a lot more important in this cycle than in 2008. in 2008, you had massive political and economic headwinds working against the republican candidate. this time around, bill clinton is the star who came out of the democratic national convention that represented a really big significant bounce for president obama. president obama's speech was not the speech that made a difference with a lot of swing voters, with a lot of leaners. it is president clinton's speech, and which this is really, really bizarre and interesting. and i think it means a lot for 2016. >> and it does -- >> 2016 -- >> whoa. >> barack obama -- >> i saw joe scarborough is not going to 2016. he could change his mind. thanks to all three of you. we appreciate it. >> bubba.

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almost four months after the company's ipo, things have been pretty crumby for facebook. trading after its initial trading price at $38 a share. investors have a lot of questions for mark zuckerberg, the 28-year-old founder and ceo. this was a big deal. today he spoke for the first time. it's been a really long time since he talked. he sat down for an interview at a tech conference in san francisco. testifies a standing-room-only conversation. he called the stock's performance disappointing and admitted facebook made some mistakes. not all doom and gloom. during the talk, he also explained how he hopes to turn the company around over the next few years, which brings us to tonight's number, 37. that's the number of times mark zuckerberg said the word "mobile" during today's 25-minute interview. >> it's really going to be how well we do with mobile. mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile is for us. facebook mobile users. mobile users. mobile is -- mobile users.

on mobile engagement. mobile, mobile, mobile. >> mobile web facebook. to mobile development. mobile app installed. we have more usage on our mobile website. >> mobile. he averaged more than one mobile mention per minute. and that is a lot. a lot of the time we weren't sure if he was trying to convince wall street or himself. because just because you say something a lot doesn't mean it's actually, you know, going to happen. but at least mark zuckerberg recognizes that investors think facebook has some serious challenges in terms of mobile and he's trying to fix it. and a lot of people are going to applaud that. all right. next, there's a new warning tonight about the consequences of congress doing nothing. but doing nothing might not be the worst option. and why the israeli government is feeling snubbed tonight by president obama. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it?

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we start the second half of our show with stories we care about, focus on our reporting from the front lines. we begin tonight in chicago where 30,000 teachers and staff, it appears, are not close to ending their strike. the chicago teachers union put out a statement this afternoon saying they agreed to only 6 of the 39 terms in the contract. one major holdup, how the city wants to evaluate teachers. they want more emphasis on

standardized test scores and pay. rahm emanuel reformed education by extending the school year, cutting the school budget and extending the school day. chicago is the nation's third biggest school district with more than 350,000 students. florida a&m university says it's not responsible for the hazing death of drum major robert champion. the school has failed to have a wrongful death lawsuit dismissed, saying the 26-year-old should have refused to take part in the hazing. in court documents obtained by cnn, the school said florida's taxpayers should not be held financially liable to mr. champion's estate for the ultimate results of his own imprudent, avoidable and tragic decision in death. champion collapsed and died shortly after a ritual in which pledges would run down the aisle of the bus and being punched. 14 have been charged in connection of his death. ayman al-zawahiri spoke exclusively to cnn's nic

robertson and submitted a six-page plan calling for a ten-year truce with islamists, promising to stop provoking and attacking the u.s. if the u.s. ends war on islam and releases all islamist prisoners. as nic points out, those demands are similar to a 2004 proposal by osama bin laden. >> it wasn't accepted and after 2004, came the attack in london in 2005. is your proposal like this? if it isn't accepted, then there's more attacks? >> translator: i am sorry to say that those who caused the london attacks were the west, because the oppression continues. either you stop the oppression or accept the reconciliation. or then how are we supposed to convince the people? how do i convince others to stop? if the oppression and violence continues? >> muhammad al zawahiri says his brother will listen to him but

says they have not talked in a deck indicate. it's been 404 days since the united states lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? sadly, not much today, which brings us to our third story. moody's warned today it could follow in the footsteps of standard & poor's and downgrade america's credit rating if congress doesn't start dealing with the nation's debt problem. but how? today leaders couldn't even agree on whether a deal is possible to avoid the fiscal cliff to begin with. >> well, i'm not confident at all. >> i'm confident we will reach some kind of arrangement. >> okay. we can't even agree on whether we're confident. and it's not funny, okay? if there is no action from congress, going over the fiscal cliff means spending gets cut, that's for sure, all right? the bush tax cuts will go away. $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts will take effect. payroll taxes will go up. and emergency unemployment benefits will end. this will all hit in january. economists we have spoken with all have said this will lead to

a recession. the congressional budget office says it could mean unemployment surges to 9% next year. if we avoid the cliff by extending some of the tax cuts or delaying or completely dodging the sequester, we sure don't address the debt problem, because we're spending a lot of borrowed money to pay for those things. so we're sort of left with a choice between two evils. which the next president will have to address. "outfront" tonight is part of cnn's in depth look at the issues, senator rob portman, republican of the swing state of ohio, romney adviser, also a member of the super committee that failed to reach an agreement, oh, that led us to the whole sequester to begin with, senator. let me start with this. so obviously today pretty frustrating when you here one side confident, the other side not. and i'm sure they'll flip on that many times. but mitt romney blamed the president and republicans in congress for the deal that created the automatic budget cuts. i wanted to play what he said and get your response. here he is. >> i thought it was a mistake on the part of the white house to propose it. i think it was a mistake for

republicans to go along with it. >> now, you voted in favor of the budget control act that said, look, if the super committee failed we need to have the sequester in motion. you said it was the first step to restore fiscal sanity, in your words. is mitt romney right to place the blame on you? >> i don't think he's placing the blame on anyone. what he's saying is it's time for leadership. and what he's offering is real leadership to not just get our spending under control but put in place the pro growth controls to get the economy moving. i personally think, erin, there is a solution here and i think it makes a lot of sense. one is to go ahead and put in place for the first year the spending reductions part of this longer ten-year spending reduction trap. we can do that. there is a proposal out to do it. it's roughly $100 billion of spending reductions out of a $3 trillion budget that would occur immediately. and then with regard to the tax relief, for a short extension, in order to move to tax reform, we would avoid this fiscal cliff that's being talked about. so i think there is a way to do

this. i'm not sure if it can be done before the election. i certainly think it should be. but it certainly could be done right after the election, regardless of what happens during the election, what they call the lame duck session of congress. and let's avoid this fiscal cliff. there is no reason to go over the cliff as some suggest we ought to do. some suggest is this would be good for the country somehow. it would be terrible for the country. >> you have the super committee and you all couldn't come to an agreement. and the failure of that was supposed to lead to something awful, right? the sequester. so that's kind of -- that was the whole point. i mean, now people are trying to say let's switch the way the sequester was set up, and i mean -- if you're a ratings agency or someone around the world, it kind of looks like we don't know where we're going. >> well, i -- as you may have heard me say before, i don't think the sequester worked and therefore i don't think it was a good idea. and i was in those meetings and i can tell you republicans looked at this and said gee, there are no tax increases and we get the savings we were asked to find. and gosh, there are defense cuts

which we wanted to do for decades this may not be a bad deal for us. so i think not having the sequester in place would have made it more likely we could have come up with an agreement. i don't think it was very effective. >> but you voted for it at the time. >> well, you know, there were a lot of different aspects to that agreement. i thought it was a good idea for us to deal with the deficit and debt in order to raise the debt limit, which is what this was all about. i think it was -- it's much more important we deal with these long-term problems, including the mandatory spending side, which as you know, erin, is about two-thirds of our spending now. and it's the fastest-growing part of our spending. and that wasn't dealt with at all with this sequester. so i don't think it was a very effective tool. i think at this point, though, we are who we are, let's look at the year-end fiscal cliff and the problems that will result. and let's deal with it. let's come up with some of the spending reductions necessary for this first year to meet the requirements of the sequestration. there are ways we can do that. again, over $3 trillion budget, we can come up with roughly the $100 billion needed. and let's also put in place a short-term extension of the existing tax code.

and for me, that would be until july 4th. i like that date, because it's independence day, and during that time, let's force congress to get its job done. let's go to work right after the first of the year. >> one final question, though. because i know you're going to be playing on barack obama getting ready with mitt romney for the debates. and one question that hopefully will come up, is asking mitt romney this. he didn't agree on a sequester, as he just said. he wants to increase defense spending to 4% of gdp. one estimate says that would be another $100 billion. we're not spending now extra in 2013. he wants to keep some of the benefits of the health care reform. he said the other day, including people staying on, their parents' insurance and preexisting conditions. but he wants to get rid of the individual mandate. he wants to cut taxes by 20%. i could add all that up and say my gosh, this guy is not a fiscal conservative. he's going spend a whole lot more money. >> well, erin, i think there has been some misunderstanding about some of his plans and the biggest one is the tax relief you talked about. he's not talking about tax cuts

of 20%, he's talking about reducing the marginal rate to 20%, in a revenue-neutral way. it's not a tax cut, it's tax reform. and economists across the spectrum, right, left or center, will tell you that's going to grow the economy and create jobs. as a result, his tax reform has been analyzed, increase economic growth to the point that 7 million new jobs will be created over the next ten years. so it is responsible. why? because it's -- >> what about defense spending and what about the health care? those are extra spends. obviously, the tax thing is a separate debate. but what about those things? how do we pay for that? >> well, regard to the defense spending, the 4% is roughly the historic average so he's talking about keeping defense roughly where it is. not having the wars in iraq and afghanistan help but an underlying defense budget of 4%. i think we're 3.8% now. without the extra costs for the wars. and then finally, with regard to health care, huge savings there. obviously, if you don't do the obamacare proposal, you save hundreds of dollars. >> but he's keeping some of the expensive benefits, isn't he? preexisting conditions and young

people staying on their parents' plans. >> the biggest cost is setting up exchanges and huge subsidies and the number of people likely to join the exchanges, and frankly, lose their own private insurance to come to them and the utilization there and the expansions of the government programs, including the huge expansion of medicaid. so that's where the big numbers are. and what governor romney has said from the start is that he thinks we should not go there, and therefore we'll have some big savings there. so the key is really very simple to me. one, you've got to reduce spending and governor romney is committed to do that. the fiscal hold that washington has got itself in is so deep, erin, you can't get out it just with spending cuts alone or growth alone. you need to do both. and that growth has to come from pro growth policies. he's not talking tax cuts. he's talking tax reform, because it will create more jobs, more growth and therefore more revenue. >> closing loopholes. thank you very much, senator. appreciate you taking the time.

obviously what you heard from him, everyone is what you should expect to hear from mitt romney in some of these debates when these questions get put to him. this is going to be an interesting next month. four fourth story "outfront," big question tonight, united states versus israel. israeli sources telling our wolf blitzer today, at least for now, the white house has rejected a request from prime minister benjamin netanyahu meet with president obama this month. they wanted to discuss iran's disputed nuclear program while in the united states for the key annual meeting. and netanyahu is getting increasingly frustrated with the united states for not drawing a so-called red line when it comes to iran's nuclear program, saying the u.s. has no, quote, moral right from taking military action on its own. "outfront" tonight, elise labott. elise, this seems like it's wrapped up more and more from the israeli side, they want the world to know the u.s. is not standing where they think it should be standing. >> reporter: well, i think, erin, a couple things are going

on. prime minister netanyahu asked for this meeting with president obama on the same day that he was making some very tough comments about what he conceives as foot-dragging by the obama administration when it comes to iran. secretary of state hillary clinton made some comments to a news reporter earlier over the weekend, saying that the u.s. is not going to impose any deadlines on iran. and so prime minister netanyahu didn't like that. he started talking yesterday in some other interviews and today. and so on the same day he asked for the interview, u.s. kind of looks like the white house was trying to put him in his place by saying we don't know what the schedule will allow. but there's no love lost between these two leaders. every time they're scheduled to meet, there is tension about whether there should be a meeting. this is really no surprise that the white house would shy away from giving prime minister netanyahu a firm date for a meeting. they're pretty pissed off. >> elise, one more question. we obviously reported the

up next, what campaigns know about you. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] ♪ home of the brave. ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪

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woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. and now our fifth story "outfront." the money ball of politics. so when you hear the words "money and politics," you

probably think of, well, nothing good. but among the things you think of, campaign commercials, there have been nearly a half billion dollars spent so far this presidential campaign alone. it is a stunning number and slated to go higher and higher and higher. you also, obviously, probably think about those expensive and lavishly planned conventions that brought us moments like these. >> it's the genius of the american free enterprise system to harness the creativity and talent and industry of the american people with a system that's dedicated to creating tomorrow's prosperity. not trying to redistribute today's. >> if you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules, then i need you to vote this november. >> every moment of those things is choreographed, the signs they hand out to wave around, everything are works of art.

but do they really determine who you vote for? sasha eisenberg, author of the new book, "the victory lab" which uncovers the secret science to winning campaigns. first off, they know a lot about us. we've all gotten used to feeling like people are spying on us online but how much do they really know, campaigns, about us? >> probably thousands of individual data points, and that can be your registration record, your name, gender, address, things they derive from what the census tells you about the neighborhood. and then information from past political campaigns. so if a candidate came to your door in 1996 and ask what you thought of bob dole, that's in a database somewhere and being used this year. and tons of information from commercial data warehouses, the types of people that put together the information that allow companies to make credit scores or do direct mail targeting for catalogs being used. >> so you buy something from one store and you get things in your e-mail box and say, gosh -- sometimes you can kind of trace it back in your own head.

but they're able to buy into that databases so you know what clothes you like and shop and all that stuff. >> fill out a warranty card and say your household income is between 50 and $100,000 and if you took a cruise they know that too. a lot of variables tell us nothing about politics. but when you have thousands of them, you can start to see which actually do predict it. and so they use these algorithms that allow them to basically look for patterns as to which variables are helpful in predicting political behaviors. and it is the same type of thing companies do with credit scores, so campaigns, instead of predicting when you're going to default on your loan or whether you're going to pay off your bill in a given month or run up several hundred dollars in charges, they're going to predict are you going to cast a ballot, vote for barack obama, mitt romney, are you pro choice. >> so they run all these al go rhythms, very scientific. and using it to get their base out. so the first use of it is i know sasha is going to vote, let's just say for the purposes of this conversation, democrat.

he always has. but i'm going to force him to do it. i'm going to guilt him into it? >> yeah, a lot of tools people are using to motivate their base are grounded in behavioral psychology. the most effective tool ever used was discovered in an experiment in michigan 2006, where they randomly assigned voters different traechts and sent a record of vote history, saying dear, erin, your vote history is a matter of public history. you voted in the 2010 general election, here are your neighbor's vote histories also. we'll send everybody an updated set. >> catholic jewish mother's guilt to get to you go out. what if someone is very much pro choice, cares about fiscal issues. you want to target someone who is persuadable. theoretically on one side or the other on issues. >> in nevada 2010, when harry reid running for re-election,

some outside groups working on his behalf took information from ballot initiatives about marijuana legalization and able to fin precincts where there are huge concentrations of libertarians that relocated from california, near tahoe, and reid was talking about how sharon angle wanted to get rid of social security, because they thought libertarians would be cool with that but record on women's issues and abortion where they were able to cross cut, fin social issues where they could relate. >> is this more effective than a $1 billion plus campaign, these are blast ads on cable. a wide net. you are talking about able to target someone on their specific interests is that more

effective? >> everything in the past decade is revolutionary. taking large areas, or broad demographic categories, women, college graduates and think about individuals. >> all right, next, we remember. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties.

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well, it is, of course, the 11th anniversary of the september 11th attacks, and as in years past, the attacks were marked with somber ceremonies across the country, including

those held at the world trade center, the pentagon, pennsylvania, the white house, and arlington national cemetery. and even though we are more than a decade removed from the attacks, for many americans, especially the families of those who died, emotions will always be as raw as they were at the beginning. in the newsroom today, we discussed what september 11th will mean to future generations who don't have a personal connection to our time and the raw emotion. it will happen. today, i was thinking of my visit to the "uss arizona." the ship attacked in pearl harbor in 1941. i wasn't alive when pearl harbor happened. visited the memorial a couple of times, it's a somber and moving event. it made me feel american patriotism in a special way i have never felt anywhere else. and visiting the "uss